CinemaSerf

Dec 7, 2024

6.0

Alec Guinness quite convincingly throws himself into the title role here in what is otherwise a rather theatrically dry depiction of the last few days in Hitler's Berlin bunker. With the Allies closing in, the Fuhrer is becoming increasingly desperate, increasingly frustrated and even more mistrusting of those around him. Those once trusted and powerful are being summarily dismissed; his rantings are becoming even more maniacal and his mood swings vacillate wildly so that even the most deft at dealing with him have to tread on eggshells else a firing squad might still be his response. Central to controlling him, insofar as that's possible, is his mistress Eva Braun (Doris Kunstmann) - but even she faces quite a challenge as he sees traitors everywhere and she has to contend with the inevitable for both herself and their children. The supporting cast makes up a powerful who's who of international cinema with Adolfo Celi standing out as the stoic General Krebs, Mark Kingston as the odious Martin Boorman and John Bennett as Josef Goebbels also contributing well to the sense of claustrophobic isolation in the bunker. The audio editing also works well, increasing the sound effects gradually to suggest the imminent arrival of their foes. To break up the rather visual monotony of the thing, it's interspersed with some fairly horrific actuality that illustrates not only the terror the Nazis inflicted on others, but also the extent to which Hitler was prepared to use every resource, even his Youth Movement, to sustain his flailing grip on power. I think this would work better on stage, it lacks an intensity here on screen that despite the best efforts of it's star just doesn't quite get off the ground, and it's also just a bit too verbose to sustain the potency of the sense of imminent threat.